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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Cutting Edge Review, from a different Sparkling Reviewer!!

Hey there! My name is Hilary and I am so happy to have been one of the few chosen by Mary to be on this blog! I have been following this blog for awhile, and when the opportunity came up to be apart of it, I couldn't wait! I can't wait to get to know all of you, and for all of you to get to know me! Hopefully, if you guys like me you'll be seeing more and more posts from me! :D

So who is the mysterious person behind the keyboard, typing furiously away? I'm a college-aged mom and I live in Georgia. I have been reading for as long as I can remember. I'm sure that if you could get books into the womb, I would have been reading them there!! I love escaping into foreign lands with devilish creatures, and going on otherworldly adventures!

Here is a list of a few things that make me not your typical reader/reviewer:

I ALWAYS read the end of books before I start to read them! I started after watching the movie When Harry Met Sally, and I've been doing it ever since!

I read the entire Harry Potter series the week before the 7th book was released! (One book a day!) That series is by far one of my favorites.

I really don't like the Twilight series. I won't say hate because I did read them all, but I really don't enjoy them. (Hides from the eggs being tossed.)

A few of my favorite series (with vampires) that I think you should read if you haven't: The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead, The Blue Blood Series by Melissa de la Cruz, and The House of Night Series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. But those are just a few!!

I hope to see more of you guys in the future and now time for my review!!!

Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, offering state-of-the-art chills and thrills involving the paranormal. The park's main ride is a haunted mansion that promises an encounter with a real ghost.

When Maia Peters visits during her senior year of college, she's not expecting to be impressed. Maia grew up as the only child of a pair of world-renowned "ghost hunters," so the paranormal is nothing new. In fact, the ride feels pretty boring until the very end. There, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl who disappeared from campus a few months ago.

Convinced what she saw wasn't a hoax and desperate to find answers to Jordin's disappearance, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin's boyfriend--a pastor's kid with very different ideas about the spirit realm--Maia finds herself in a

struggle against forces she never expected to confront.

My Review:

The story opens up with Maia attending a "haunted house" with two girls she knows from school. As they're waiting in line, the girls are shivering with nervous excitement. Maia is extremely bored and wondering why she even came. "Growing up, I'd seen and done things that those two weren't equipped to imagine. I knew it would take more than a fun house to rattle me-a lot more-no matter how technologically advanced it was."

When they finally enter the house, at the end of the "scare tactics", Maia experiences something that she's only seen on a few occasions. Maia sees an intelligent apparation, one of Jordin...someone who's not supposed to be dead. The next day when Maia finds out Jordin has gone missing, from Jordin's fiance Derek, Maia becomes even more worried. She sets out, with Derek, to find Jordin.

"Do you know the question? Look at every quest, every journey that's ever been undertaken, and at it's heart you will find a question. A question that needs answering. And that drive for answering it is what fuels the quest. The search for the paranormal is no different than any other quest. At it's core, there is a question that needs to be answered. Do you know that question?"

Maia Peters asks Jordin Cole this when they meet for the first time. Jordin is trying to enlist the help and guidance through the paranormal from Maia. Maia has grown up around it her whole life. Her parents, Malcolm and Carmen Peters, are famous for their paranormal investigation reality television show. When Jordin aproaches her, she knows that she's asking someone experienced. Maia flat out refuses.

"I really hated when people recognized me. Fame had never agreed with me. It wasn't really my fame they were recognizing, anyway. I was just famous by association. Or perhaps infamous."

Maia has left the paranormal life behind and has decided to pursue a criminal justice degree at Columbia University. Jordin is very persistent and finally convinces Maia (with a LOT of money) to help her feel the paranormal.

I couldn't put this book down once I started reading, the author has a way of sucking you into his world. The bad thing was, I am such a wimp when it comes to ghosts and scary things that like! So I would have to tear myself away from the book, because I wouldn't be able to sleep at night!!

The way the book is set up, helps the story move along quickly. Every other chapter switches between Maia and Derek's investigation, to Maia and Jordin's paranormal investigations. It's a very fast-paced book, that will certainly keep you on your toes. The author has a way of making you think. Not just experiencing the story, but delving into your mind.

When Maia and Jordin go on their very first paranormal investigation of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, the author answers all the questions you could have about the paranormal.

"...has evidence ever been collected? Has the paranormal ever been proven?..Any scientist will tell you there are infinite numbers of things in the universe that we cannot explain. And no one will argue that proving what happens to us when we die is a question we still can't answer. Whatever label you apply to it-the paranormal, the afterlife, the unexplained-almost everyone agrees that things exist that are outside of our ability to perceive. But defining it, quantifying it, cataloging the exact scientific parameters of what it is and where it is and how it functions...no we've never achieved that."

He even goes through and explains the different types of hauntings. It was really helpful to have someone like Jordin who didn't know anything about the paranormal, because I didn't know anything either! Having it explained to me by Maia, made me feel like I was Jordin, soaking in her every word.

When it switches back to Derek and Maia, Derek is the complete opposite of Maia. Their beliefs about the paranormal are vastly different. Whenever they get the chance to hash it out, it brings up new thoughts in your mind, but at the end of the argument, you're at the same place you were before, bewilderd.

"Even the disciples believed in ghosts. That was their first thought when they saw Jesus walking toward them on the lake. And also when He was resurrected. I know that one by heart. He said, 'Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.' He doesn't lecture them on whether ghosts are real or not. He's alive that's what matters. And that's just the New Testament. Don't get me started on Saul using the Witch of Endor to conjure up Samuel. Are you telling me Samuel was a demon?"

"Why would a ghost wear clothes?..Most reports of so-called hauntings feature a dead soul that's seen wearing the clothes he or she wore most often when they were still alive. It makes no logical sense. People die, clothes don't."

The author takes you on a journey, along with Maia and Jordin, to learn about the paranormal. You'll experience everything they do, the heaviness in your chest, the feeing of dread and even the room around you will get colder. You're not just reading you are experiencing. Robin Parrish is going to explain everything about the paranormal and take you to ACTUAL "haunted" places such as Waverly Hills Sanatorium, The Stanley Hotel and even Alcatraz. He will leave you breathless and searching for the answer to the question that drives every paranormal investigator, "What happens when we die?" I wouldn't normally pick up this book, but I'm glad that I did and you will too!! It was one of the best books I've ever read. :)